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Officials quarantine Ebola virus area

GULU, Uganda Officials in northern Uganda have placed three districts at the center of an outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus under quarantine and say they will use force to prevent anyone from leaving the area.

The World Health Organization says 43 persons have died of the virus, one of the most horrific and deadly known to mankind, since the outbreak was detected in Uganda two weeks ago.

Ugandan authorities said yesterday that although they believed the situation was nearly under control, they would secure three areas where the majority of cases have come from. The region is about 180 miles north of the capital, Kampala.

Militants kill 12 in one family

ALGIERS Armed Islamic militants broke into a home and killed 12 persons including eight children south of Algiers, reports said yesterday.

The attackers took two young girls captive Saturday before continuing to a nearby farm, where they killed six farmers, reports said. Security forces reportedly were pursuing them.

Earlier Saturday, six motorists were killed at a fake roadblock, bringing to 60 the number of deaths in the past six days that recall the massacres of Algeria's 8-year-old Islamic insurgency.

U.S. dismisses Belorussian elections

The United States yesterday dismissed the results of parliamentary elections in Belarus and said it will continue to recognize the parliament that President Alexander Lukashenko dissolved in 1996.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement that Washington agreed with its European allies that Sunday's polls were not free, fair or transparent, and that they failed to meet the international norms for democratic elections.

Mr. Lukashenko disbanded that parliament after a referendum that gave him sweeping powers and extended his term in office until 2001. The United States and its allies say Belarus has fallen behind political reform in the rest of Europe.

Fighting erupts in Nigerian city

LAGOS, Nigeria Fighting raged yesterday between Nigeria's two largest tribes, leaving about 40 persons dead and bodies strewn in the streets of this commercial capital.

The clashes broke out late Sunday between Hausas from the predominantly Muslim north, and Yorubas, who are mostly Christians from southern Nigeria.

Fighting persisted yesterday, police and government officials said. Anti-riot police were sent to the clash sites yesterday afternoon, and the violence subsided.

Thousands have been killed in ethnic and religious violence since President Olusegun Obasanjo took office last year, ending 15 years of military rule.

Harry Potter aids Third World charity

LONDON Harry Potter is to come to the aid of charity.

J.K. Rowling, the millionaire author of the international best sellers about a teen-age wizard, agreed yesterday to write two short books to raise money for Comic Relief, which raises money for Third World causes.

"Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them" and "Quidditch Through The Ages" will be published in March 2001.

"I have always had a hankering to write these two books, so when [film screenwriter] Richard Curtis wrote to me, I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to be involved with a charity I have always supported," Miss Rowling said.

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